Birders: The Central Park Effect

Besides serving as an offbeat nature documentary, Birders is one of the most joyful and uplifting recent portrayals of New York City, with director Jeffrey Kimball taking an affectionate look at Gotham's convivial bird-watching community—folks of all races, genders, and backgrounds who come to Central Park with powerful optics and cameras to witness the 200 varieties migrating through the landscape each year. Divided into seasons, the film features interviews with a wide range of enthusiasts, including a trombone technician, a cancer patient who measures out her life in bird sightings, professional ornithologists and representatives from the Audubon Society, and writer Jonathan Franzen. While celebrating the richness of avian life on view, the documentary also makes the point that the seeming abundance tends to hide an alarming decline over time. The high-rise-dwelling hawk, dubbed Pale Male, who's been the topic of various documentaries (including Pale Male [VL-9/04]) and books, makes a brief showing, but he's just one of the many subjects flitting through (an “in-order-of-appearance” checklist runs over the closing credits). DVD extras include a field guide booklet, additional interviews with Franzen and others, and a “Birds of Central Park” video guide. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)